Tag: weightlifting fairy kim bok joo korean drama

“Everyone spends their youthful years. It’s a time that we are beautiful because we can be immature and yet we shine brightly. We are not afraid because we have nothing to lose and our hearts flutter because we can have anything.”

Credit the cast for their commitment to this coming of age drama. It created an international cult following especially on the teens and the early-twenties. “Weightlifting Fairy” was my first and last kdrama binge for 2016. I initially had reservations if I will put it on my plate, but one night when I don’t have anything scheduled to watch anymore, I took it and was uncaring if I wake up the entire village with my laughter festival.

This is the drama I will make my daughter watch when she goes to college so she can have an idea of what a perfect college boyfriend is. *wink I still have a lingering one-sided noona romance with Nam Joo Hyuk. Gawd that guy is just swag!

This campus romance will poke any person’s buried love memories set in their college life. Yes sir, it was also the case for me. “Weightlifting Fairy” lunged to a momentum that is so binding and relatable for the viewers as it somehow gave us another peek of a love story that we were once in the same kind. Lee Sung Kyung was just a pretty face actress for me prior to her role as Kim Bok Joo, but I can’t imagine anyone who can fit to that role the way she pulled it off in the series.

“Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo” narrated the story of a prolific college weightlifter who just like any typical girl fell in love with a weight management doctor. Nurturing her one-sided crush she signed up for a weight loss program and suited up for a new identity as a cello player. Her secret second life bumped to a reality when she learned that the doctor is the brother of her gradeschool classmate, Joon Hyung, whom she recently met again at the Sports University they were both attending. She was forced to be nice to Joon Hyung to keep her secret going but Joon Hyung’s ex-girlfriend who wanted to win him back and jealous of Bok Joo, discovered her weight loss management appointments and used it to hurt her by letting her coaches know about it. Bok Joo was punished and was locked down to keep her weightlifting figure so she was forced to stop coming to the clinic. Joon Hyung and Bok Joo became closer and as her puppy love towards his brother faded, he realized he has fallen in love with his sassy friend. She soon returned his affection and they made every girl in the planet envious of the young imaginary love they shared.

Buoyant and feel good, Bok Joo and the rest of the sports athlete in Haneul University gave us an awesome time with their interactions and side chronicles. It was such a simple story with an almost non-existent conflict, but it was told in a smart perspective hitting the familiar situations we also had at some point in our lives when we were young and unafraid to love. Jung Joon Hyung is now the prototype for an ideal college boyfriend ever. The #relationshipgoals captured in their friendship turned love adventure was mushy and cute that I was so shamelessly having a noona romance in my very own world with Nam Joo Hyuk. *chuckles

Bok Joo and her girlfriend moments were also hilarious in keeping up the upbeat tone of the story. Being easy to digest and not traversing complications without basis, what I love about this drama is how it was straightforward with its plain premise, but the characters made me feel like I’m watching the thrills in Criminal Minds coated in the sweetest chocolate frosting. *wink

When I sent off the “swag couple”, I was all smile and teary-eyed remembering my youth days in them. I wish we can have Bok Joo and Joon Young’s story 5 years after. The hours spent watching them fall in love was like a comfort food and bubble wrap combined. I picked “Weightlifting Fairy” as one of the best kdramas of 2016 for being such a genuine coming of age story that beautifully captured the joy and pain and everything in between of being young… of building dreams and of falling in love for the first time.